FX derivatives fight history and a currency war

Brazil’s government has not shirked from competitive devaluation policies. The most recent, in July, was a strike against currency speculators through a new FX derivative tax. Rob Dwyer looks at how it will affect corporate hedging strategies.

THE EVOLUTION OF the use of derivatives by corporations in Latin America has not been straightforward. The fallout from the spectacular misuse of FX hedging products by some Latin American corporates continues to throw up practical and psychological barriers.

In Brazil, the largest market and comparable only to Mexico in the adoption of risk management trades by corporates, the regulators have just introduced another macro-prudential measure that targets FX derivatives. Confusion still reigns about exactly what the new decree means.

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